As is generally well known, attachment or removal of a fuel line or a hydraulic line requires employment of an open end box wrench or a crescent wrench in order to accommodate a tubing which extends from one end of the line connector. Such line connector is normally a nut. These hand tools must be removed and reapplied several times as the hand tool can only engage the fastening nut in a direction which is generally perpendicular to the axis of the tubing and where such direction further coincides with the plane of the nut. The process is tedious and exasperating for the person tasked with removal or attachment of the fuel lines.
As it further known, conventional ratchet wrenches having a closed head cannot be used in such applications, as they require axially unobstructed access to the fastening nut.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,494 to Castor discloses a ratchet wrench for working in areas of greatly limited access which includes a head having a bore extending through it, a handle secured to the head, a socket for engagement with an object to be rotated, and gear teeth spaced apart circumferentially around the outside surface of the socket. The head is split and hinged to pivot between an open position for expanding the effective size of the bore and a closed position for extending around the gear teeth of the socket when the latter is inserted in the bore.
A spring-biased locking mechanism locks the hinged portion of the head in its closed position during use. The locking mechanism is releasable to allow the head to pivot to its open position. A reversible ratchet pawl engages the gear teeth to provide reversible, unidirectional rotation of the socket relative to the head. However, such ratchet wrench requires a greater clearance around the fastener, in order to open or close the hinged portion, than some applications allow.